Fangs of Bolshevism : Or, Friesen-Braun Trials in Saskatchewan 1924 - 1929

Card covers, 235 pages, 8.5X5.5 in - 21x14 cm, B&W photographs.

Covers worn and creased, with tape residue. Front cover bumped at corners and soiled, back cover rubbed at spine. Spine worn at edges and chipped at head and heel, exposing gatherings. Title page through p.16 dog-eared at top and bottom, pp.17-35 dog-eared at bottom. Pp.231-234 edge-worn and chipped. Pages age-tanned, many pages lightly soiled, all pages readable.

This volume recounts a case of fraud in Saskatchewan’s Mennonite community that resulted in ten trials in the 1920s. The case concerned Isaac Braun’s claim to have loaned $5000 to H. P. Friesen. When Friesen refused to repay Braun and stated that no loan had been arranged, a five-year legal battle ensued (then, the longest criminal case in Saskatchewan’s history). Written by Friesen’s brother, the book contains all the elements of a thrilling courtroom drama including false witnesses, planted evidence, mysterious fires, secret compartments, hung juries, and religious excommunication. The volume includes excerpts from newspaper articles written during the trials as well as letters written to/by the parties involved. Beyond their intrigue, the Friesen-Braun case partially shaped public sentiment towards Russian immigrants and Mennonites in Saskatchewan in the late 1920s. Laid in is a photocopy of a 1931 letter (apparently) written by Braun to Friesen from the Saskatchewan Penitentiary. Peel(3) 5332.